Endoscopic procedures involve the examination of the interior upper alimentary canal. Such procedures are often beset by the related problems of apnea (i.e. cessation of respiration) and hypoxia (i.e. reduced O.sub.2 content in tissue and blood. Apnea if not detected and immediately redressed will produce the potentially fatal condition of hypoxia. In this light, the present invention generally provides an endoscopy-compatible respiratory face mask having means for the controllable delivery of oxygen throughout endoscopy as well as means to detect apneic conditions and thereby assist in the prevention of hypoxia.
Endoscopy is a medical procedure usually undertaken on an outpatient basis. The standard protocol generally requires intravenous (IV) sedation of the patient. A gastroenterologist usually administers the sedation for this procedure. Gastroenterologists, however, are not trained extensively in the specialized and esoteric field of anesthesiology. This deficiency, however, does not absolve them from employing the traditional standards of care normally attributed to trained anesthesiologists, vis-a-vis drug administration and patient monitoring. Part of the standard protocol involves the controlled and continuous administration of oxygen and the monitoring of respiration. Heretofore, no single endoscopy-compatible device has been developed that would effectively provide both oxygen administration and respiratory monitoring features without being cumbersome and/or interfering with an ongoing endoscopic procedure.
In the past, before acceptable anesthetic standards were applied to sites outside the operating room, administration of oxygen was occasionally achieved through insufflation, but in most cases omitted altogether. Monitoring of respiration was also commonly omitted. The results were numerous cases that ended in severe neurologic compromise, or death, as a result of the commencement and subsequent failure to redress an apneic condition leading to hypoxia.
Fortunately, the past trend has been reversed. Today, the basic underlying IV sedation protocol requires prevention of adverse respiratory events by administering oxygen to prevent hypoxia and early recognition of potentially critical incidence by the constant monitoring of patient respiration to detect foreboding indicia of an apneic condition. Regardless, the devices employed today to administer supplemental oxygen, i.e., nasal cannulas, simple face mask, etc., are nonetheless cumbersome and generally ineffective to maintain current standards during endoscopic procedures. While the problem has long existed, current respiratory devices either do not allow or interfere with access to the mouth, where the endoscope must be inserted. The present endoscopy mask has means for the controlled continuous administration of oxygen for spontaneous respiratory techniques combined with concomitant avenues for respiratory monitoring by capnographic methods. The configuration and design of these features on the mask facilitates endoscopic procedures as well as prevent the inconvenient interruption of the procedure once commenced.
More specifically, the mask provides a face mask with a bite block engageable by the teeth of a patient. The bite block has a hollow configuration to accommodate introduction of an endoscope. A Luer-lock port is provided for communicably accessible connection to a capnograph for respiratory monitoring. An air tube is positioned so that oxygen can be rapidly and controllably introduced into the mask. In view of these and other features, the invention may be effectively utilized to detect whether a patient is suffering from apnea so that a subsequent hypoxic condition can be immediately prevented. Since hypoxia may be redressed by manual procedures, such as repositioning a patient's head, it is unnecessary to remove the mask or otherwise interrupt an ongoing endoscopic procedure.